Category Archives: Music

Pink Floyd reaches deal with Sony to sell music catalog for $400m – report

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British rock band also agree to sell rights to their name and likeness after years of reported infighting among members

Pink Floyd has reportedly reached a deal with Sony to sell their music catalog, as well as their name and likeness, for about $400m.

The British rock band agreed to sell the rights to their recorded music catalog, their name and their likeness, but not the rights to their songwriting, according to the Financial Times, who first reported the news of the deal on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

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John Boyega to play Otis Redding in new biopic alongside Danielle Deadwyler

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Star Wars actor will lead Otis & Zelma, which will celebrate the ‘eternal love story’ between the singer and his wife

John Boyega is set to play Otis Redding in a new film telling the story of the soul singer’s decade-long relationship.

Otis & Zelma will see the Star Wars and Attack the Block actor play the tragic star with the Till breakout Danielle Deadwyler playing his wife, Zelma.

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Indian police investigate ticket resales for Coldplay Mumbai gigs

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After tickets quickly sold out, some began to reappear on unauthorised third-party websites for more than £750

Indian police have opened an investigation after touts bought up tickets for Coldplay’s upcoming Mumbai shows and put them back on sale for more than £750 each.

India is often missed off global tours by popular western artists and news that Coldplay would be coming to India for the first time in January to perform two nights of their world tour in Mumbai had been greeted with wild excitement by music fans.

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Lincoln venue apologises for treatment of male gig-goers at Last Dinner Party concert

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Men who attended planned concert alone tell how they were searched and asked ‘condescending questions’ by security

A venue in Lincoln has apologised for the treatment of some male attendees at a planned concert by the Last Dinner Party – which the band ultimately cancelled shortly before show time due to illness.

On X, one man wrote that on arriving at the Engine Shed, he was “funnelled into a dark corner with other men, told I might be a pervert cus I’m alone and then taken into a room alone with a security guard where I was interrogated and searched. Feel sick.” In subsequent comments, he said he had been asked what his favourite song by the British group was.

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Fans can be Prince for a night as Purple Rain house debuts on Airbnb

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Minneapolis house featured in 1984 movie offers once-in-a-lifetime experience with interiors based on late music star

Prince fans will have a chance to party like it’s 1999 in the very Minnesota house made famous by Purple Rain as the movie celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

The white, two-story Minneapolis home looks unassuming from the outside, but it is a sign o’ the times as the newest limited-time Airbnb Icons rental – properties created and run by Airbnb and designed to give guests a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

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Azealia Banks likens Bull Ring fish stalls in Birmingham to ‘Wuhan wet market’

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US rapper says her visit to indoor market led to her spending two days ‘sweating out’ an illness

The US rapper Azealia Banks has accused Birmingham’s fish market of making her ill, comparing it to a “Wuhan wet market”.

In an unlikely intervention, the American star posted on X that city officials needed to “do something” about the stalls before comparing the market to the site in China identified as the place where the Covid pandemic most likely began.

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Lady Gaga announces 13-song Joker companion album Harlequin

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The singer and actor has revealed the upcoming release of a companion album to her role in Joker: Folie à Deux

Lady Gaga has announced an accompanying 13-song album to her new film Joker: Folie à Deux.

The singer and actor had been teasing the news on social media and has now shared that the album, Harlequin, will be released on 27 September.

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Tennessee man testifies that he and another man killed rapper Young Dolph

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Cornelius Smith said he and Justin Johnson shot Young Dolph after brother of rival rapper Yo Gotti put a hit on him

A Memphis man testified on Monday that he and a second person shot and killed rapper Young Dolph after Big Jook, the brother of rapper Yo Gotti, put a hit on him.

Cornelius Smith identified himself and Justin Johnson as the two people seen on a 17 November 2021, surveillance video exiting a white Mercedes outside a Memphis, Tennessee, cookie store about 30 seconds after Young Dolph entered the store and then opening fire in broad daylight.

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Rapper Shyne says former mentor Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs ‘destroyed’ his life

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Belize’s House opposition leader Moses Barrow ‘takes no joy in anyone’s challenges’ after recent charges

The rapper and former Sean “Diddy” Combs protege Shyne has said his ex-mentor “destroyed” his life in the wake of a 1999 New York City nightclub shooting in which they were both implicated – yet he denied gaining any sense of schadenfreude from the Bad Boy Records founder’s recent arrest on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and other related crimes.

“One of the things that I would never wish on my worst enemy is to be incarcerated,” said the artist born Moses Barrow, a native of Belize who spent about eight years in prison while Combs was acquitted of charges in connection with the same shooting. “So I take no joy in anyone’s challenges whether with the criminal justice system or otherwise.

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Green Day in Sydney for $500 – is dynamic pricing reserving live music for the rich?

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Ticketmaster and Ticketek claim demand-driven prices mitigate the problem of scalping, when tickets are bought – often by AI bots – and resold at inflated prices

Dynamic ticket pricing helps combat ticket scalpers, the company behind $500 Green Day tickets claims – but music industry insiders and consumer groups dispute that, with some concerned the controversial practice skews live events to the rich.

Dynamic pricing – when the cost of products rise and fall according to demand – is well established in Australia, from Uber’s surge prices to utilities and airline fares.

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Starmer’s free tickets for Arsenal and Taylor Swift part of job, says minister

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Business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, defends PM over gifts he has received since becoming Labour leader

Keir Starmer’s attendance at Arsenal football matches and Taylor Swift concerts is “part of the job”, the business secretary has said.

Jonathan Reynolds described the occasions for which Starmer had accepted tickets, including a Coldplay gig and football matches, as “major cultural, sporting events”.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to stay in jail until sex-trafficking trial begins as bail again denied

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Second judge refuses bail to music mogul, 54, citing possibility that he could tamper with witnesses

Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will have to await trial on sex-trafficking and racketeering charges in a Brooklyn jail instead of his luxurious Miami Beach mansion after a second judge refused to grant a $50m bail package offered by his lawyers.

On Wednesday, US district judge Andrew L Carter Jr denied Combs’s request to be released to home detention with GPS monitoring, pointing to the possibility that Combs may tamper with witnesses.

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Berlin’s Watergate nightclub will close with New Year’s Eve last dance

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Upmarket Kreuzberg club blames economic pressures, a pandemic hangover and Berlin’s dated image as factors leading to end of 22-year party

Berlin’s Watergate nightclub, one of the institutions of the German capital’s nightlife, is to close down after 22 years, with its owners saying the night-time economy still hasn’t recovered after the pandemic.

In a statement, the club’s management said it had made the “difficult decision” not to extend its lease and close its premises after a New Year’s Eve party at the end of the year.

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Green Day presale tickets for Australia tour as high as $500 under Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing

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Regulator says dynamic pricing is legal if consumers are not misled as fans considering giving the Saviors tour a miss

Tickets to Green Day’s Saviors tour in Australia were as high as $500 in the initial presale after Ticketmaster revealed dynamic pricing was in effect for the rock band’s upcoming shows.

The first presale for the March 2025 leg of the tour went on sale Monday for three locations – the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne. The cheapest general admission tickets were capped at $200 plus booking fee, but those wanting seated tickets were informed at purchase point that the price was as high as $500 due to what Ticketmaster calls “In Demand” pricing.

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Kanye West performs in China after rare approval by country’s censors

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Flow of foreign artists to China has slowed to a trickle, but economic pressures could be forcing authorities to rethink

When Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, took to the stage in Haikou on Sunday, his Chinese fans could barely believe it. One of the biggest and most controversial foreign acts in the world had been allowed in by China’s notoriously censorious regime.

Ye’s only China show – all the more surprising for skipping big cities in lieu of the holiday island of Hainan – was announced just days earlier, and more than 42,000 tickets sold out within minutes. It was his first time back in the country for 16 years. In that time the Chinese government’s tolerance for western musicians has diminished, while Ye’s reputation for controversy has grown.

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Tito Jackson, Jackson 5 member and brother to Michael, dies aged 70

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The third of nine Jackson children and last to release a solo project, Tito was ‘incredible man who cared about everyone’

Tito Jackson, one of the brothers who made up the pop group the Jackson 5, has died at the age of 70.

Tito was the third of nine Jackson children, including global superstars Michael and sister Janet.

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Real Madrid pauses concerts after ‘torture-drome’ noise complaints

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Football club announces cancellation or rescheduling of gigs at refurbished Santiago Bernabéu stadium

Real Madrid has cancelled or rescheduled all concerts at its Santiago Bernabéu stadium and is working to comply with council noise regulations after local people complained that a series of loud, late gigs had turned the arena into a “torture-drome”.

Although best known as the home of one of Spain’s greatest football teams, the Bernabéu – which has just undergone a five-year, €900m (£760m) refurbishment – has hosted a string of high-profile concerts over the spring and summer. Recent headliners have included Taylor Swift, Luis Miguel and the Colombian star Karol G.

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‘The UK is invited’: Bradford reveals 2025 City of Culture lineup

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West Yorkshire city to host magic, music, film and theatre performances celebrating local talent, plus Turner prize

A city centre magic show, the Brontës as you’ve never seen them before, and a bassline house symphony are all part of Bradford’s City of Culture lineup, which its organisers call a celebration of everything that makes the West Yorkshire city great.

Shanaz Gulzar, the creative director of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, said the whole of the country was invited to come next year to a place she billed as young, diverse, creative and “the heart of the UK”.

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Dave Grohl says he has become father of baby girl born ‘outside my marriage’

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Foo Fighters frontman posts that he aims to be loving parent to new daughter and earn family’s forgiveness

Dave Grohl has announced that he has become the father to a baby girl born “outside of my marriage”.

The Foo Fighters frontman, 55, said he plans to be a “loving and supportive parent” to his new daughter in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

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White Stripes sue Trump over ‘flagrant misappropriation’ of hit song

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Band accuse campaign of unauthorised use of Seven Nation Army and seek ‘significant monetary damages’

The White Stripes’ Jack White and Meg White have filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for what they allege is the “flagrant misappropriation” of a recording of their hit song Seven Nation Army in a campaign video.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Jack White shared the first page of the lawsuit, filed in court in New York, with the caption: “This machine sues fascists.”

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